Online Reporter
I DON’T know how Job felt when he sat in his pile of ashes with his children dead and his wealth stolen and his body decaying, but I have sat on the edge of my bed in tears, crying out to God over my suffering.
And like Job, I have wondered why. Why was I given this burden to bear? Why did I have to suffer? And as if in answer, I was given more suffering to bear.
At one point or another, we all suffer. But what adds to our suffering is the suspicion that it’s meaningless. If our suffering serves a just cause, we can at least endure knowing it does something noble. Or if our suffering is the just consequence of our sin, at least we can accept responsibility for our actions.
But often we find ourselves in situations like Job’s, where we aren’t suffering nobly or justly. We’re just suffering. We fall ill. Someone hurts us. Our minds betray us. Our child gets sick. Our job is downsized. We lose a loved one. Nothing noble or just, only suffering.
It’s in these circumstances that we’re most tempted to doubt and despair, because we cannot see the pattern, the order to existence. Where’s the meaning in all this suffering? How is God glorified if I suffer for no apparent reason? You can hear the echoes of Job: “Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?” (3:23).
And without meaning, suffering is exponentially harder to endure.
When Suffering Feels Meaningless
Endurance—as a type of the virtue courage—involves vulnerability to suffering for the sake of the good. But if there is no good, if it’s senseless suffering that you’re trying to endure, your courage will hardly sustain you. The good is the hope that keeps you moving and allows you to get out of bed each day, despite pain, with the knowledge there is a promised redemption of all things, an order to your suffering.
Without that good, eventually you will fall into despair. You will conclude that this suffering isn’t worth the pain, and any kind of relief is better than endurance. Which is why so many turn to alcohol, illegal drugs, technological distractions, pornography, gambling, and other ways of numbing themselves to avoid the reality of suffering. But it doesn’t work. The suffering is always beneath the surface, waiting to make itself known again.
At one point or another, we all suffer. But what adds to our suffering is the suspicion that it’s meaningless.
The question for all humans, not only non-Christians but Christians as well, is how to suffer well. You will suffer from circumstances that are not noble or just; they just are. In those moments, what will make a difference is whether you believe your suffering is truly meaningless or not. Your ability to endure and persevere through hard times will depend on your ability to fix your hope on the promise that no tear is shed senselessly. The God who sent his Son to suffer and die on our behalf is making all things new.
Christians have a promise from God through the apostle Paul that he is working all things, which includes our suffering, for our good. In Romans 8:28, Paul tells us that “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” This truth feels hard to reconcile with the reality and day-to-day experience of suffering. “Can these bones live?” (Ezek. 37:3). Can this pain be turned into something beautiful? Can my suffering actually be redeemed? Can there be any meaning to this affliction?
Suffering Teaches Us to Comfort
One way God redeems our suffering is by allowing us to comfort others with the comfort we received through Christ:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. (2 Cor. 1:3–5)
We need each other to make it through this life. We need the comfort of Christ shared through the brothers and sisters of Christ, through the body of Christ. And how powerful that comfort is when it comes from those who have also experienced affliction themselves! They possess an experiential knowledge that can help mentor and comfort the person currently afflicted.
In my experience, knowing that my suffering has helped others and has enabled me to see that my struggle bears fruit. It’s not just empty affliction; it produces something beautiful through community. – tgcafrica.org
